Angular VS React VS Vue

Which of the following technologies is best for your project: Angular, React, or Vue? All three are well-known JavaScript frameworks and libraries. When we consider the differences between these three options, we may notice that each has its own set of benefits and drawbacks. To decide between Angular, Vue, and React, consider your customers’ needs as well as your own and your team’s personal preferences. We will compare these technologies in depth in this article. Continue reading to learn more and make a final decision between Vue, Angular, and React.

What Is the Use of Frontend Frameworks?

Frontend frameworks are powerful tools for creating sophisticated user interfaces. They assist programmers in developing self-contained architectures that are simple to scale and maintain in collaboration with other software specialists. A JavaScript framework’s primary goal is to provide standard structures to ease developers’ daily work and eliminate repetitive tasks.

Software engineers must write less customised code each time, saving time and energy and freeing them from routine work, allowing them to be more creative in other tasks. Every JavaScript framework adheres to specific code structure conventions, resulting in more standardised and easily readable code. Angular, Vue, and React can help a developer during a project by making it faster and more efficient.

Angular

A Brief History

Google released Angular, an open-source framework, in 2016. It lacked many important technical characteristics when it was created, and the market was rapidly changing. As a result, there was a period of active improvement implementation, and a number of valuable adjustments were added to the framework. At the time of writing, the most recent version of Angular is 13.1.1, which is the fastest and most efficient version to date.

Pros

• Well-supported It has many more supporters because it has been on the market for a longer period of time than others
• Strong features Angular has a plethora of useful technical features.
• Scalability Angular’s robust features assist in making apps much more scalable
• Components that are reusable Because Angular is component-oriented, components can be reused multiple times.
• Distribution It divides single blocks into multiple ones, making it easier for Angular engineers to work on individual components.
• Rich built-in features Many functionalities are included by default in Angular, making the development process easier.
• Data binding in both directions When you make a change to the model layer, it is immediately reflected in the view layer.

Cons

• Not the best option for newcomers Angular’s syntactical structure is difficult to learn, and developers must devote a significant amount of time to mastering it.
• Debugging is a difficult process It takes time and effort to debug Angular apps.
• TypeScript knowledge is required Because Angular was designed to work with TypeScript, Angular developers must devote time and effort to understanding the logic of this language.
• Slow rendering Because Angular lacks a virtual DOM and does not actively use a shadow DOM, rendering and re-rendering times are significantly slower than in other frameworks.
• Heavy-duty coding Angular code is large and must be downloaded from servers. As a result, processes become slower and performance suffers.

React

A Brief History

Jordan Walker, a Facebook (now Meta) software developer, created React.js in 2013. React has undergone several changes since its inception, with the most recent version being 18.1.0. React is essentially a JavaScript library for creating highly functional UIs with robust interactive features and rich dynamics. Although React has a more limited implementation area than Angular, it can be empowered by additional libraries, enhancing its functionality and making it more applicable.

Pros

• Component-oriented structure Because of the nature of React, it is extremely flexible and allows for massive amounts of data to be transferred without difficulty via the application.
• DOM virtualization All React changes are made to a virtual copy of the Document Object Model. Following that, both versions in React are compared, and the real one re-renders the transformed part. It speeds up processes significantly.
• Data binding that is one-way In React, transformations at the view level have no effect on the model. This way, the data in React only moves in one direction, removing any potential unwanted side effects.
• There is no need for classes Unlike Angular, React UIs can only be built with pure functions, simplifying coding.
• Ideal for mobile devices React Native enables the creation of powerful native mobile apps using JavaScript. React apps written in JavaScript look native, just like those written in Java or Objective-C, thanks to their robust features.
• Large active community The React library has grown in popularity among developers, and there are now a plethora of learning materials and comprehensive documentation to help you learn it. When React developers run into difficulties, more experienced users are ready to help.

Cons

• Technologies developed by others Because React is just one of the libraries and not a full-fledged framework, its capabilities are limited. You should use additional technologies to increase its size.
• Debugging is a difficult process It takes time and effort to debug Angular apps.
• JSX To work with React, it is recommended that you learn JSX in addition to JavaScript.
• Complexity. React does not have a predefined form structurally. Having said that, the developer must also create the structure.
• It’s not easy to learn. React is frequently regarded as a difficult technology to master. Furthermore, in order to use React, software developers must learn additional technologies.

Vue

A Brief History

Vue.js is a well-known Angular and React competitor for its cutting-edge framework for creating UIs. It was popular among Chinese programmers at first, but it is now widely used in Western countries as well. Evan You, an Angular software engineer at Google, founded Vue in 2014.

He was well-versed in both the advantages and disadvantages of Angular. He launched Angular’s new competitor, Vue.js, with a clear vision of how to preserve its advantages while eliminating its disadvantages. Vue has undergone significant changes and improvements since then, with Vue 3.2.33 being the most recent release at the time of writing.

Pros

• The MVC structure. This is a huge benefit for developing Vue-based apps that require a high level of complexity because it allows developers to write code with excellent structural characteristics.
• Nature’s lightness. The Vue.js framework is small because it does not include many built-in features by default. It is frequently compared favourably to Angular, which is enriched with a number of inbuilt features that are unlikely to be used in the application at all (which makes it heavy and inconvenient). On the contrary, Vue.js can be extended with a large number of third-party modules, allowing the functionality to be enhanced without slowing down the application.
• Declarativity Vue.js templates are HTML-based, making them simple to understand even for developers unfamiliar with other programming languages.
• Components The app can improve flexibility and ease of data transfer.
• DOM virtualization Vue applications are more performant than other types of frontend frameworks thanks to the virtual document object model.
• Data binding in both directions With the help of Vue’s document object model, the Vue.js framework is capable of automatically synchronising the entire model.
• By default, Laravel is supported Laravel is a frontrunner in backend development. When combined with Vue, it becomes an excellent choice for developing web applications without the need to install any additional third-party tools.
• The nature of JS Because Vue.js only uses JavaScript, knowledge of other programming languages is not required.
• Recognition is increasing Vue.js is becoming increasingly popular.
• User-friendliness Vue.js is the most user-friendly tool to learn and use, even for beginners, when compared to its competitors. Furthermore, you can incorporate Vue.js technology into your projects gradually rather than all at once.

Cons

• A more intimate community Vue.js is not as well-known among software developers as React.js or Angular. However, aspiring Vue.js software engineers can seek assistance from more experienced professionals, discuss issues on forums, and study extensive learning materials and video tutorials.
• Libraries are in short supply Because there aren’t as many people using Vue.js, there aren’t as many solutions for extending Vue’s technical capabilities.

Philosophy Comparison

Angular

Angular is the most popular option, and it is frequently regarded as a platform rather than a framework. This is due to Angular’s robust inbuilt functionalities, which include full control of the user interface, reactions to user inputs and their validation, as well as rich routing and state management capabilities. Furthermore, Angular provides offline support, PWA capabilities, and a comprehensive toolkit for communicating tests and building high-quality programmes, as well as managing multiple apps concurrently and connecting them to one another.

React

As a UI-focused JavaScript library, React’s primary goal is to render and control content, and then create components and user interfaces on top of it. Furthermore, React provides developers with the necessary toolset, but it is much more limited than Angular.

Vue

The philosophy of Vue is somewhere between that of Angular and that of React.js. Vue.js is more feature-rich than React but less so than Angular. Vue, in particular, gives developers built-in state management and routing capabilities. Vue, like the other options discussed in this article, focuses on UI development.

Syntax Comparison

Angular

Angular implements TypeScript, a superset of JavaScript. Angular-based projects have special tools that can compile TypeScript code into JavaScript in a way that makes it compatible with the required browser. There is no need to write code that creates or removes DOM components. Instead, developers create Angular components, and Angular handles the heavy lifting.

React

React implements JavaScript with the specific feature JSX, which is later compiled to a plain JavaScript coding compatible with your browser. Because JSX differs from standard JavaScript, not all React developers enjoy it.

Vue

Although Vue.js uses plain JavaScript, it is also possible to use TypeScript. JavaScript in Vue frequently uses single file components and can separate components and JavaScript logic. Furthermore, Vue.js can support JSX.

Comparing Ease of Learning/Complexity

Angular

Angular Developers frequently consider Angular to be the most difficult framework out of the three due to its complicated structural characteristics and TypeScript usage. It supports a wide range of modules, components, and services with the goal of providing high-quality project support as it scales.

React

React is frequently thought to be on par with Angular in terms of complexity, but React developers frequently consider it to be somewhere in the middle of Angular and Vue.js. To begin coding with React, simply import the React library — and you’re ready to go. However, not all React developers want to learn JSX, which is frequently required. Nonetheless, this library is generally simple to learn.

Vue

Because of its simple syntactical characteristics, Vue.js is the easiest to learn. Aspiring Vue developers only need to learn the Vue template syntax, which is simple if you know HTML. Single file components allow for easy file storage and, as a result, project organisation.

Performance Evaluation

Angular

Angular, like React, does not efficiently swap rows. The basic script takes a long time to boot and consumes more memory. Furthermore, Angular is slower than other options. This is a result of its robust nature, as it is packed with heavy functionalities — making it an ideal tool for large-scale projects at the same time. It also includes an official SSR package and a virtual scrolling component.

React

React is faster than Angular, but because it is only a library rather than a full-fledged framework, it has fewer features. React is an excellent tool for developing robust user interfaces with dynamic and interactive elements. Furthermore, SSR is supported by an official package in React, and virtualization is possible with the help of third-party tools.

Vue

Vue is most commonly used for creating lightweight apps due to its features. Vue.js provides an official SSR package, but its virtualization capabilities are not as robust as those of its competitors.

Adoption and Popularity Comparison

Angular

Angular is frequently used for enterprise-level projects. Despite the fact that it was created by Google, it is not used in any of the company’s major projects.

React

React, which was created by Facebook (now Meta), is still actively used by the company on internal projects. It has gained a lot of popularity and recognition on GitHub as one of the most popular JavaScript projects. Furthermore, it currently supports over 10 million websites.

Vue

Vue.js is extremely popular due to its ease of use. Vue, which was created by Evan You at Google, now has an active user community and powers nearly 2 million websites worldwide.